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the customary weapon to destroy Freedom that’s how George Washington described violations of the Constitution usurpations of power but he was far from alone the founders and old revolutionaries repeatedly warned us every overstep every excuse every precedent no matter how small sets us on a path to destroy Liberty so on this episode I’m going to share some of their top and long forgotten warnings about power precedent and the dangerous slippery slope to tyranny but first of all welcome and thank you for joining me here on the path to Liberty my name is Michael Bolton with the 10th Amendment Center and this is the show for Wednesday January 29th 2025 let’s kick it off first here with an essential question from John Dickinson the Penman of the American Revolution in his letters from A farmer in p pania 1767 the most widely read documents on American Liberty throughout the revolution up until the publication of Thomas pay’s Common Sense these were widely read widely understood widely accepted principles here’s the question that Dickinson asked for who are a free people not those he wrote over whom government is reasonable and equitably exercised but those who live under a government so constitutionally checked and controlled that proper provision is made against its being otherwise otherwise exercised so tldr if you happen to find people in power to do the right thing with power that’s just luck it’s not really a free Society that’s not what describes a free people and while this was one of the most important principles I think of the American Revolution in one of the most widely read documents of the time we also see how the same view was brought forward to the Constitution here’s St George Tucker in his view of the Constitution of the United States he had the same message it is the due restraint and not the moderation of rulers that constitutes a state of liberty but he continued with this as the power to oppress though never exercised does a state of slavery so just merely having the power even if they don’t use the power in a bad way is tyranny that’s how the founding generation looked at things and I think that’s how we should look at things as well and this is why the founding generation created a bunch of written constitutions During the Revolution and after in the states the Articles of Confederation and here’s James Madison in the Virginia ratifying convention describing the structure of the constitution for the United States he said the powers of the federal government are enumerated they’re spelled out he said they are few and defined in Federalist 45 and he had a similar similar take in June of 1788 in Virginia he said it can only operate in certain cases it has legislative powers on defined and limited objects Beyond which it cannot extend its jurisdiction now anything that goes beyond those limits is what the founders called usurpations of power usurpation is a theft of power so a usurpation is considered arbitrary power the very definition of tyranny James Otis Jr in 1762 described things like this he said arbitrary which in plain English means no more than do as one pleases if the people of the several St well the people of the several States created a constitution that delegated to the federal government certain things that they wanted the federal government to do as their agent the federal government decides they want to do more than that that’s arbitrary power they’re just doing whatever the heck they want they’re not following the rules at all arbitrary power was such a big deal to the old revolutionaries that it was included as one of the so-called grievances the injuries and usurpations the abuses in the Declaration of Independence now I cover that in much more detail in a an episode almost three years ago now amazing to me arbitrary power how the founders defined tyranny that’ll be linked to in the show notes Alan Mosley will get it organized and I will get it published the blog post for this episode over at 10th Amendment center.com paath to Liberty all spelled out that’ll be published a couple of hours after this live stream is done now the founders widely understood that allowing government to get away with arbitrary power usurpations of power violations of the Constitution was a recipe for total disaster once you do that you establish what John Dickinson called the detestable precedent that they can go beyond the limits if you give them limits and then you allow them to go beyond those limits well then that tells government that they can come up with other reasons to go beyond that limits and they’ll keep doing it over and over and over and they will never ever stop ever here’s how Dickinson described things uh in his broadside against the Stamp Act urging people to refuse to comply with it not wait for it to be repealed cuz waiting for it to be repealed is the detestable precedent he said if you comply with the act by using stamped papers you fix you rivet Perpetual chains upon your unhappy country you unnecessarily voluntarily establish the detestable precedent which those who have forged your Feds ardently wish for to Varnish the future exercise of this new claimed Authority everyone understood that once you let him get away with arbitrary power there’s going to be more and more arbitrary power and as John Adams described it back when he was one of the good guys writing as novanglus number three the atlas of Independence in 1775 it’s a deadly disease it’ll just well here’s how he put it the nature of encroachment upon the American Constitution is such as to grow every day more and more encroaching like a cancer it eats faster and faster every hour now living under the largest government in history once again we’ve seen all kinds of cancers eating away at our Constitution and our Liberty from government for Generations now unfortunately though especially these days we hear from tons of people left right and Center that all kinds of constitutional violations should just ignore that set that aside for various reasons the most common ones are well they like the program but or they like the person doing it or the team doing no you can’t you know I like what they’re doing in these other areas so I don’t want to attack them on this thing or will they tell us you know it’s just too small it’s not we’ve got so many other bigger things to worry about and I can understand prioritizing our resources but the suggestion that we should just like not even comment on it or defend it because it’s a small thing really is more more of this detestable precedent now let’s address that last one first the smallness of a constitutional violation is actually what Dickinson called the most dangerous one he considered ignoring it because it’s so small a fatal error he said some person’s oh I should pull this up on the screen so I’m not steering off into the space there some persons he said may think this act of no consequence because the duties are so small he’s talking about the towns en acts in 1767 he said this is a fatal error for Dickinson the small attacks on Liberty the small violations of the Constitution were really the most alarming ones because they obviously are setting something up for later he said that is the very circumstance most alarming to me for I am convinced that the authors of this law would never have obtained an act to raise so trifling to some as it must do had they not int ended by it to establish a precedent for future use so many people today only think in the immediate term their time preference is just wild to me the founding General especially as someone who reads so much from the founders and the old revolutionaries they constantly thought well what will this allow them to get away with in the future what will this precedent established and Dickenson is pointing out that the smallest violations of the Constitution even the unwritten British constitution were the most dangerous because those are the ones that people would generally ignore and then you have a precedent for them to do much bigger ones on the same legal precedent he continued to console ourselves with the smallness of the duties is to walk deliberately into the snare that is set for us it’s a trap that’s not Dickenson but praising the neatness of the workmanship but it is a trap every every time they just put out a little one that they shouldn’t do a little violation of constitution small attack on your Liberty they’re really establishing more of that detestable president to build on it in the future now Thomas Jefferson affirmed this same type of a principle this essential principle of the American Revolution many years later in his opinion rejecting the constitutionality of Alexander Hamilton’s National Bank bill this is February 15 1791 he said to take a single Step Beyond the boundaries the specially drawn around the powers of congress is to take possession of a boundless field of power no longer susceptible of any definition again this is UN you’re basically G if you say that they can violate the limits of the Constitution you are saying they can do whatever the hell they want whenever they want it’s just a matter of political willpower getting enough people behind them and this is is really the living breathing Constitution which is a dead one it has no restrictions whatsoever but constitutions don’t enforce themselves so it’s really the people voluntarily establishing that detestable precedent now back to St George Tucker he put it like this if in a limited government the public functionaries exceed the limits which the Constitution prescribes to their powers every such Act is an act of usurpation in the government and as such treason against the sovereignty of the people which is thus endeavored to be subverted and transferred to the usurpers man there is so much in that one they’re stealing from you usurpation is theft of power from the people sovereignty is final authority of the people have said you could only do these things and they steal it anyways how you supposed to deal with thieves and robbers well that’s a different question here’s how Samuel Adams described these things he said the people this is a letter to Arthur Lee and I think this is the attitude more of us really need to have today the people hold the invasion of their rights and Liberties the most horrid rebellion and neglect to defend them against any power whatsoever the highest treason so next up let’s address that second kind of claim that people make why we should just turn a blind eye to something that is well I like my guy and you know I like 10 things that he’s doing and I’m not going to complain about these two little ones that’s not even that big of a deal anyways Samuel Adams as a young man in 1748 put it like this it is a very great mistake to imagine that the object of loyalty is the authority and interest of one individual man however dignified by the Applause or enriched by the success of popular actions and he later wrote as well true loyalty is founded in love and possession of Liberty not individuals so we have to have that as our goal mercius Warren this is in the exact same line but I think it’s pretty similar it shows this kind of person first faction first mentality in her great uh history of the Revolution the rise progress and termination of the American Revolution this will also be link to in the show notes I encourage you to it’s a free read over at Liberty Fund you can read it online or download various versions of it but she said there is a propensity in mankind to enlist themselves under the authority of names and to adopt the opinions of men of celebrity more from the fashion of the times than from the convictions of Reason sounds familiar to me thus with the borrowed language of their Chieftain I love how she writes these things they impose Upon Our themselves until they think his opinions are their own and are often rough up to such a fierce Spirit of contention that they appear ready to defend them in all the cruel modes of the Savage who is seldom actuated by motives of Candor and forgiveness of injuries now let’s go to that third excuse that we’re always given and I think this actually covers all three we’ve got this Timeless warning from George Washington’s farewell address that turning a blind eye to violations of the Constitution to usurpations of power to arbitrary power for any reason it doesn’t matter what is a weapon to destroy Freedom weapon was George Washington’s term now first he reminds us that if we think the limits of the Constitution well they’re too strict there’s actually a process to deal with that he said if in the opinion of the people the distribution or modification of the Constitutional Powers be in any particular wrong let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates I wish I had this one handy in my show notes maybe I’ll be able to get it to Allan before we before I’m all wrapped up with everything but I did an episode just this last fall on what I consider to be the most important veto in history it was James Madison as president his last day in office March of 1817 they sent him an infrastructure spending bill now he had actually advocated in favor of infrastructure spending for a long time so I think they thought that this was going to be easy peasy they’re going to get him to sign it and so they went to go visit him the sponsor of the legislation uh with a small group of people and before they left he’s like I got to let you know I’m going to veto this thing because what they sent to his desk did not fit within the lines of the Constitution even though he was politically in favor of the goal politically in favor of what they were trying to do on his last day in office even at their urging they said well why not just not do anything uh Monroe is coming in tomorrow maybe we can convince him but he felt his oath to the Constitution required him to veto it and he explained it he explained in his veto message like look you know I’m not unaware of what we’re trying to do here it’s just that what you did in this legislation isn’t within the bounds of the Constitution so I have to withhold my signature until you provide an amendment to the Constitution to authorize the federal government to do this so anyways George Washington had this very similar point in his farewell address as well but wait there is more Washington continued with this but let there be no change by usurpation for though this in one instance may be the instrument of good it is the customary Weapon by which free governments are destroyed and he continued pointing out that the predent must always greatly overbalance balance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield so short version is even if you like what they’re doing you have to reject it don’t let them usurp power because this is a weapon to destroy freedom and it will always set a precedent as all the old revolutionaries understood for more and more in the future and you may not like the people who have that precedent in the future so in short ignore attacks on the constitution on your Liberty because you like the policy you like the team you like the person you think they’re too small whatever the reason doesn’t even matter any reason Under the Sun is a weapon that destroys freedom and I think James Otis Jr described things best he said so long as people will submit to arbitrary measures so long will they find Masters and there is absolutely nothing that helps us reach and teach more people about these essential foundational principles from the ratification debates from The Revolution and even further back more than the financial faith and support of our members if you like the work that we’re doing you want to help support us and you want to help us continue and expand this effort you can join us for as little as two bucks a month over at 10th Amendment center.com members it’s all spelled out 10th Amendment center.com members we also have annual fiveyear and lifetime options available uh or if you prefer a one-time gift rather than a membership we’ll take that as well I’m very grateful for any consideration you can give to supporting us 10th Amendment center.com donate no pressure but uh thank you so much for at least considering it today and there are also a bunch of free and easy peasy things that you can do to help us spread the word primarily taking actions on the various mainstream video and audio platforms leaving reviews these things will help in general trigger algorithms and tell those platforms to show us to more people reviews on Apple podcast or any other podcast platform subscribing getting notifications on all the video platforms comments especially in the archives uh not beyond the live stream also uh on YouTube and the video platforms the more watch time you have the more likely they’ll show us to more people so all that stuff really helps out a great deal uh with that I really appreciate you being here I should mention that I’m going to be off on Friday I have some family things that I got to take care of but I will be back to my regular schedule this next week so I really hope you enjoyed this episode I hope it made you think I hope you learned something and I hope to see you next week here on the path to Liberty
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